Sunday, January 16, 2011

Meh. I'm public high school teacher of seventeen years and an atheist, and I don't feel this is a battle worth fighting.

Is it an attempt to get prayer in school? Almost certainly. Will it fail? Almost certainly. The kids prone to pray will do so, but the rest, including about 95% of those who claim to be theistic, will be going through their mental agenda for the day, thinking about their boyfriend and/or girlfriend­, or pondering other non-religi­ous thoughts. This is a waste of time all around, but it takes about 15 to 30 seconds out of the day.

My school has a moment of silence requiremen­t, and I use it to go over a mental checklist for what I'll be teaching less than a minute later.

The minute any kind of prayer is actually required, I'll be notifying the ACLU, but until then, picking battles wisely is the best course.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.